The Cornley Drama Society’s production of Murder at Haversham Manor is a snowballing disaster from the first stumble (a botched sound cue) to the final ruinous moments (the complete collapse of the set and the sanity of the cast). Thus is the constantly ballooning joke of Lewis, Shields, and Sayers’ farce, The Play That Goes Wrong, performed at Solvang Festival Theatre by a cast of PCPA’s high-level comic talent (who are playing a troop of actors with a much lower level of professionalism and experience). As the players hurl themselves through the storm of onstage chaos, virtues such as patience, civility, and inhibitions become a distant memory.
Director Roger DeLaurier called the show a “clockwork” farce, which is an apt description. The production’s many physical stunts and gags are dependent on specific timing and placement of actors, cues, and objects, which requires incredible consistency. The PCPA cast moved effortlessly through choreography involving falling objects, precarious ledges, rolling furniture, fight choreography, and too many spit-takes to count.
There are many highlights, but personal favorites included Cameron Vargas’ Max Bennet (playing Cecil). The character is so joyfully bizarre that it reaches its full Waiting-for-Guffman potential. And the tech crew (played by Jonathan Valerio, Courtney Ekstrom, Victor Meneses, Hunter Oehlschlaeger)? You were perfect, no notes.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the work of set designer Jason Bolen and the crew who built the incredible interior space of the manor. The Play That Goes Wrong truly cannot be the extravaganza that it is without the Haversham sculpture, a set that must fall to pieces every night, only to be reassembled for another breakdown the next day.
See The Play That Goes Wrong under the stars at the Solvang Festival Theatre through July 28. See pcpa.org.
